10 of the 50 Baseball stories will be about the 20 years Ness and I have spent together. It will be a serious challenge to trim it down to 10 because Lawrence Nesselrodt is Baseball, as the Beatles would sing, 8 Days a week.
Krukie, as he was known to many, created the most outrageously funny moment in Baseball history when he faced Randy Johnson in the MLB All-Star game.
Just two kids from Nowhere, West Virginia chasing a life in Baseball.
https://m.youtube.com/shorts/jJ3rcwJ3zNk
The phrase from a long time ago started with the Old Yankee Stadium 🏟 being called the House 🏠 that Ruth Built. Now, Babe Ruth didn’t actually ” build ” Yankee Stadium but I loved the reference so over the years, I added to it.
Welcome to Lucas Oil Stadium, the House that Peyton Manning built and Welcome to Safeco Field, the House that Ken Griffey Junior built.
Well, Joe Goddard, the man who I introduce at every home game that I announce for the West Virginia Tech Golden Bears 🐻, as the Legendary Joe Goddard actually built a Field for his High School.
Joe Goddard is a living legend and I was blessed to try to pen 🖊 his story
Thanks to Chris Graham at the Augusta Free Press and in the link above, the local Newspaper 📰 in Beckley, West Virginia, this story was read across an entire region.
It has been nothing short of a privilege to soak in the thoughts of Joe Goddard over the past decade. Each Spring, Goddard and I serve as the little voices in the ear of Skipper Lawrence Nesselrodt as he leads our Golden Bears. Goddard helps with the X’s and O’s while I assist with the things that take place outside of the chalked lines.
When Joe first told me the story about turning down an opportunity to continue his professional Baseball career within the San Diego Padres organization, I hung on every word.
Returning to West Virginia to teach and Coach was the better fit. The problem was the School didn’t have a Baseball field at the time. Not to worry, Joe fired up his tractor and started to plow down some acreage. He had his little Girl with him at the time so Joe had to get creative while he built his field. Taking a rope, Joe tied a sled that was dragged behind him and Father 👨 and Daughter spent quality time together ❤.
That little Girl 👧, is all growed up now and has turned out just fine. She calls Joe, Dad and her patients call her Doctor !
The Link :
https://augustafreepress.com/news/joe-goddard-literally-built-this-field-of-dreams/
Joe Goddard is a name that will appear numerous times in the Baseball ⚾️ portion of our upcoming Book !
The Good News is that we will still have the opportunity 🙏 to get together, just not tomorrow morning. Looking forward to the new date 📅 !
Link to a peak at part of the focus that is Megan Gordon.
https://www.vsba.org/board-of-directors/megan-gordon/
Megan Gordon is still hard at her dream of making Page County the best it can be. The Mother of Kate and Maddie Gordon, both former Lady Panthers Softball players that played four seasons in High School and then another four years of Division 1 ball.
Back at our second OneofUs.Care Banquet we were able to honor 🎖the efforts of Mrs Gordon and the list of accomplishments was impressive back then and still continues to grow everyday.
Her daughters played back to back for Coach Knight and each Gordon girl has at least one Ring 💍 in their jewelry box. Like Assistant Coach Ralph Viafora, Mom stayed heavily involved with the program after she no longer had a child wearing the colors.
We will be sharing as much of her story as we can in the book 📖. Having a reason to spend time with such a focused young Lady is priceless !
Plenty more to follow –
For the serious Baseball ⚾️ fan, the game stands on its own. Cheering on your team, the strategy involved and Hot Dogs 🌭 can be all it takes to get a fan to grab their car keys, wallet and head to the Stadium. Baseball is Old School and appreciated by the masses.
The part of the game that fascinates me is the marketing side of the business. Over the decades I have entered the turnstiles at over 300 different facilities to watch either a Softball or Baseball game and each time I’m looking for a reason to want to come back.
At the Major League level, the game stands on its own merit but the further one goes down the ladde from MLB, the harder the marketing department has to work. They have to compete with a 100 different things that a family 👪 can go do so there is a need to add additional features to the night.
Arizona (MLB) has a swimming pool in centerfield but it is designed for the folks with too much money. Las Vegas (AAA) has a swimming pool as well but it allows an individual to purchase a ticket.
Many parks now have small amusement parks behind their outfield fence while others depend upon live concerts and post-game fireworks. Mixing things up at the Concession stands is a must and some do it well.
Going to highlight some of my favorite features from along the journey, including new scoreboards in Nashville and Sugarland, cool names that match their home towns and my favorite play on serving food.
When your team is named after a small dog 🐕, you have to sell food inside an actual Dog 🐕 Bowl 🥣, right ?
El Paso (AAA), Texas has it going on !!
A.S.P.N on The Hill 